182 GRASSES OF BRITAIN. 



Phleum Boehmeri. 



Purple-Stalked Cats-tail Grass. 



Plate LXXX. 



Specific Characters, — Glumes hairy on the upper half of the keels. 

 Floret one-third shorter than the glumes, and entire at the summit. 



DescrijMon. — Root perennial, fibrous, tufted. Stem erect, smooth, 

 hollow, striated, and polished, from six to eighteen inches high, fre- 

 quently, but not invariably tinged with purple, bearing four or five 

 leaves, with smooth, striated sheaths, the upper sheath much longer 

 than its leaf, more or less inflated. Ligule of upper sheath half as 

 long as broad, obtuse, embracing the stem. Joints usually four, the 

 upper situated below the centre of the stem, and not covered by the 

 second sheath, excepting when yoxmg. Leaves flat, acute, roughish 

 on both surfaces, as well as on the edges ; the upper leaf much the 

 smallest, those from the root more linear. Iivflorescence panicled, 

 close, usually from one and a half to two inches in length, of a cylin- 

 drical form, when small approaching to oval ; rachis and branches 

 roughish. Spikelets numerous, small, compressed, arranged on all 

 sides, composed of tw^o glumes and one awnless floret, shorter than 

 the glumes by one-fourth. Glumes of equal size, linear, divaricating 

 at the points, the margins white and membranous, terminating ob- 

 liquely at the summit ; the keels fringed with a few short white 

 hairs, especially on the upper half. Floret of two paleae, the outer 

 palea five-ribbed, roughish on the upper part of the central rib, entire 

 at the summit. Inner palea about equal in length to the outer, mem- 

 branous and entire at the margins. Ovarium hairy on the upper 

 part. Scales prominent, hairy. Styles two, distinct, arising from the 

 summit of the ovarium. Stigmas feathery. Stamens three. 



Obs. In Sir William Hooker's British Flora, it is stated that the 

 keels of the glumes are downy, while Sir James Smith asserts them 

 to be more or less fringed with a few bristles, not soft hairs. In all 

 those specimens which I have examined, the keels of the glumes were 

 never downy, but always fringed with short, stout, white hairs, espe- 



Pkleum Boehmeri, Schrader, Koch, Smith, Kunth, Hooker, Lind., With., Bab. Pha- 

 laris pkleoldes, Linn. Chtlochloa Boehmeri, Beaiiv. 



